Passenger Trains > Chicago to Pittsburgh

While talking trains on Turkey Day I got to thinking about train travel with my Dad in the late 50s or early 60s. We would take the CZ from Oakland or SP from Martinez to Chicago. And if memory serves me right we would travel PRR to Pittsburgh. It seems that we arrived in Pitt in the middle of the night. Anyone out there have schedules they could post to help with my memory. Thanks in advance for your efforts.

The November, 1960 Official Guide lists the following:

# 48 The General Lv. Chicago 3:20 pm; Arr. Pittsburgh 12:16 am

# 28 Broadway Ltd. Lv. Chicago 5:00 pm; Arr. Pittsburgh 1:34 am

The Broadway was still all-Pullman then. The General had coaches
and sleeping cars.

The California Zephyr arrived Chicago Union Station at
2:05 pm

A special service charge applied for the General for travel
over 360 miles. The charge was $1.00.

#50 ,The Admiral, left Chicago 6:30 pm and arrived Pittsburgh
4:45 am.

Hope this helps. As of 1960 the number of trains was
declining.

Check out some of the schedules in the "Concourse" section of
http://www.streamlinerschedules.com/concourse/track5/broadway195607.html

The Broadway Limited, for example, fits your description.

Pittsburgh was the approximate halfway point for PRR's Midwest - East coast serive. Accordingly, its major trains were scheduled to pass through Pittsburgh during the late night/midnight/very early morning time period.


Here's a link to a 1954 PRR system timetable. Pages 10 and 12 show the condensed schedules for the major easbound and westbound trains passing through Pittsburgh.

http://www.pennsyrr.com/kc/passops/downloads/541217_1.pdf

Pages 6 & 7 provide information on through sleeper service from the West Coast the Overland (via C & NW) and California Zephyr routes.

During its earlier years, Amtrak maintained the service patterns established by PRR for the Broadway and National Limiteds with eastbound trains typically arriving and departing Pittsburgh during the very early morning hours. Several Pittsburghers have told me that they would board an Amtrak train just after midnight to arrive in New York in the morning to spend a weekend.

I have to thank you for posting this GREAT schedule. this would cost 10.00 on ebay. I appreciate your generosity

Pittsburgh also benefited from specific sleepers designed around the needs of their major industrial clients.

Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) had regular overnight sleeper service between Pittsburgh and Massena NY. The unlikely combination was due to the location of Alcoa's headquarters and a major facility. Koppers Company also benefited with connections between Pittsburgh and Knoxville, as did Westinghouse.

The willingness of railroads to accommodate their big business shippers with passenger service in the late 1940s and early 1950s shouldn't be under estimated. Back when Pittsburgh was the factory front office of America, that counted for a lot...

RuleG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Pittsburgh was the approximate halfway point for
> PRR's Midwest - East coast serive. Accordingly,
> its major trains were scheduled to pass through
> Pittsburgh during the late night/midnight/very
> early morning time period.
>
>
> Here's a link to a 1954 PRR system timetable.
> Pages 10 and 12 show the condensed schedules for
> the major easbound and westbound trains passing
> through Pittsburgh.
>
> http://www.pennsyrr.com/kc/passops/downloads/54121

Thank you...so many trains to pick from...and I think we got off in Steubenville and Ada or Lima too...wish my Dad was around to ask.
> 7_1.pdf
>
> Pages 6 & 7 provide information on through sleeper
> service from the West Coast the Overland (via C &
> NW) and California Zephyr routes.
>
> During its earlier years, Amtrak maintained the
> service patterns established by PRR for the
> Broadway and National Limiteds with eastbound
> trains typically arriving and departing Pittsburgh
> during the very early morning hours. Several
> Pittsburghers have told me that they would board
> an Amtrak train just after midnight to arrive in
> New York in the morning to spend a weekend.

Thanks everyone for your responses...so which trains did we actually take...guess I'll never really know. Memory Lane is closed for repair...haha!